Fruit peeler



R. POLK, SR

FRUIT PEELER Oct. 27, 1942 Filed Feb. 2, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. 42 4/ .244 BY 6%11/ V ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 27, 1942. R. POLK, SR

FRUIT PEELER Filed Feb. 2, 1940 5 SheetsSheet 4 INVENTOR. $2o%fi cf'r- ATTORNEY6 Oct. 27, 1942. R. POLK, SR

FRUIT PEELER Filed Feb. 2, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. fi/k Jr.

A TTORNEYJ.

Patented Oct. 27, 1942 FRUIT PEELER- Ralph Polk, Sr., Miami, Fla., assignor to The Polk Development Company, Tampa, Fla., a copartnership of Florida Application February 2, 1940, Serial No. 316,905

11 Claims.

At the present time, in the commercial production of integument-free, substantially whole, segments of citrus fruits, more particularly grapefruit and oranges, the skins are first removed. In a common method of skin removal the whole fruits are submerged in very hot water to wilt the skins, the submergence necessarily lasting (with grapefruit) for seven to ten minutes and unavoidably heating the body of the fruit. Following skin wilting, the heated fruit is immersed in cold water to permit handling, the wilted, skin slit with a hand knife and the peel removed by hand.

The object of my invention is to provide a newmethod and mechanism by means of which undesirable heating of the main bodies of the fruits may be avoided and the skins mechanically removed at greater speed than has heretofore been possible.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my in- Fig. 4 a fragmentary section of parts shown in Fig. 3 with the parts in their positions when the fruit has been partially denuded and the skin clamped for further fruit ejection;

Fig. 5 a similar section at the completion of the peeling operation;

Fig. 6 a section on line -6-6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 a section of a suitable control valve; Fig. 8 a plan of the valve and its operatorcontrolled actuator; and

Fig. 9 an elevation of parts shown in Fig. 8.

In the drawings l0 indicates a fruit-heatin chamber, conveniently a rotary drum, the axis of which is slightly inclined from horizontal so that, as the drum is rotated by any suitable means, fruit delivered thereto from chute H will be discharged, at the end of a predetermined interval dependent upon the speed of the drum, from the opposite end into a cooling bath l2. The chamber I0 is heated by any suitable means, as by means of a flame l3, so that the exterior of the fruit passing through the chamber is subjected to an intense heat-very much higher than could be furnished by a liquid bath-for a relatively short time-a matter of a few secondsjust long enough to permit the inner surface of the skin to become wilted and thereby loosened from the circumferential integument of the main body of the fruit.

It is desirable to avoid scorching or charring of the exterior of the skin and furnace temperatures should not be too high but may be as high as 1500 F. or higher, the idea being to cause wilting of the inner surface of the skin (at about 200 F.) as quickly as possible because the quicker this wilting is accomplished, the less will be the heat penetration of the fruit body itself and therefore the firmer will be the fruit body for subsequent operations. Promptly following this heating, the fruit is chilled, conveniently in a cold water bath [2. The skinwilted fruits are removed from the cooling bath to table l5 and a zone I6 (dotted lines Fig. 2) of the wilted skin is sliced off. I find that the best results are attainable if this zone I6 is at the-stem pole of the fruit and consequently the zone removal is most easily accomplished by a v manual operation following chilling. The wilting operation, by means of relatively high temperature heat applied for a relatively short time, toughens the skin so that, in further handling, it does not as readily crack as when the skin has been wilted and loosened by a hot water bath.

After removal of the stem zone of its wilted skin, the fruit is placed stem end up in the upper end of a ring 20 having an internal diameter slightly less than that of the fruit.

Surrounding ring 20 are several (conveniently 10) skin-slitting knives 22, each carried at the upper free end of a lever 23 pivoted at 24 on a ring 25. At its upper free end each lever 23 adjacent knife 22 forms a shoulder 21 which will engage the wilted skin of the fruit and thus limit the projection of the knife into the skin to the thickness of the skin so that the knife 22 will not cut the surface of the fruit body. Each lever 23, adjacent its fulcrum, has a radial arm 28 having an eye 29 sleeved over a vertical rod 30 and beneath each eye 29 is a spring 3| which serves to yieldingly urge the upper end of its associate lever 23 inwardly toward the axis of ring 20.

The levers 23 are arranged in a circular series around the axis of ring 20 and interdigitated with these lovers are similar levers 32 each pivoted, at 33, on a ring 34 similar to ring 25. Each of levers 32 is provided, near its fulcrum, with a radial arm 36 having an eye 31 sleeved over vertical rod 38 and yieldingly urged upwardly by spring 29. Each lever 32 is provided, at its upper end, with a raker finger 48 adapted to engage a segment of the fruit skin, defined by the two adjacent slitting knives 22, in a downward direction.

The lower arm of each lever 23 is provided with a latch finger 23' and the lower arm of each lever 32 is provided with a similar latch finger 32' and these latch fingers 23' and 32 may be engaged, at times, to prevent inward swing of the upper ends of their respective levers by a latch disc 4| yieldingly urged upwardly by springs 42. The collars 25 and 34 are held in vertical position by rods 43.

Ring 28 is carried by a housing 58 provided with radial. slots through which the upper ends of levers 23 and 32 are projected and also provided with a depending circular skirt 52 which encloses said levers. Within said housing and carried thereby is a circular series of cam rollers 53 which engage cam surfaces 54 of levers 23, and a circular series of cam rollers 55 which engage cam surfaces 56 of levers 32. Depending from, and within, housing 58 are guide rods 51, the lower ends of which are slidable in a spider 58 carried by a plunger rod 59 which is coaxial with ring 28 and which is provided, at its upper end, with an ejector head 68 adapted to engage the fruit supported in ring 28. Springs 6| are interposed between spider 58 and housing 58 to normally yieldingly hold housing 58 up against head 68.

Enclosing the lower portions of levers 23 and 32 is a fixed housing 62 over which the lower end of skirt 52 is sleeved. The top housing 82 is provided with a multiplicity of radial slots 83 through which levers 23 and 32 project and, at the top of this housing, I provide a circular bumper ring 84, conveniently of rubber tubing, to limit the inward swing of levers 23 and 32. The top housing 62 is also provided with a bearing 85 through which plunger 59 may reciprocate.

It will be readily understood that proper coordinated movements of the various parts, which have been heretofore described, may be caused by various mechanisms, but only one is shown in the accompanying drawings.

The plunger 59 is carried by a piston rod 18 having its piston within a cylinder 1I having a pipe 12 connected with its upper end. and a pipe 13 connected with its lower end. The Figs. 7, 8, and 9 illustrate a valve mechanism for automatically producing a complete reciprocation of plunger 59. This valve mechanism comprises a main body 14 having three parallel bores 15, 18, and 11, the lower end of bore 18 being closed by a plug 18 and the upper and lower ends of bore 11 being closed by plugs 19 and 88, res ectively.

Mounted in bore is a piston valve 8| having a medial annular groove 82 and exposed heads 83 and 84 at the upper and lower ends of the valve respectively. A light friction element 85 engaging valve 82 serves to normally hold it in the bore 15 at any position to which it may be pushed by external forces applied to the heads 83 and 84. Mounted in the upper end of bore 18 is a piston valve 88 adapted to cover and uncover a port 81 leading into the middle of bore 15. A main supply port 88 leads into the lower end of bore 18 below valve 88. Mounted in bore 11 is a piston valve 89 having a medial annular groove 98 and upper and lower flanking annular grooves SI and 92, respectively. Valve 89 is axially bored from end to end as indicated by dotted lines 93 and leading from groove 98 into this bore is a port 95. The upper and lower ends of bore 93 are provided with adjustable valve structures 98 of a well known type, by means of which the rate of flow of air into the upper and lower ends of bore 11 from bore 93 may be controlled. Leading from bore 15 to the lower end of bore 11 is a port I88 which may be covered and uncovered by the lower end of valve 8| and, similarly, leading from the upper part of bore 15 is a port I88 which may be covered and uncovered by the lower end of valve 8| and, similarly, leading from the upper part of bore 15 into the upper end of bore 11 is a port I8I which may be opened and closed by the upper end of valve 8|, the said ports I88 and IN being alternately uncovered to atmosphere by movements of valve 8I. Leading from the middle of bore 11 so as to communicate with the. annular groove 98 is a passage I82 which leads into the valve chamber I83 having in its lower part a valve seat I84 from which a port I85 leads to a pas sage I86 connected by pipe I 81 with port 12 of cylinder 1I.

Seated on seat I84 is a ball valve I88 normally resting on seat I84. Leading from chamber I93, above valve I88, is a bleed passage I89 which leads around seat I 84 to passage I86. Leading from bore 11 to atmosphere, in a position to be alternately covered and uncovered by the upper end of valve 89, is a port II8. Also leading from bore 11, opposite groove 9I (dotted lines Fig. '7), is a port III, said port being soplaced relative to port II8 that, when port H8 is uncovered, the port III, which is connected with port 13 of cylinder 1I, permits exhaust from the lower end of cylinder 1| to atmosphere. A port 2 (dotted lines Fig. '1), communicates with bore 11 opposite groove 92 and is so positioned that when valve 89 is in its upper position passage I82'will communicate through groove 92 with port H2 and thence to atmosphere. A port I I3 forms a communication between bores 15 and 11, said port being at all times in communication with groove 92.

The normal at rest position of plunger 59 is a little short of its maximum upper position, a block I28 carried by said plunger resting upon a latch pin I2I carried by a latch plate I22 which is carried by a rock-shaft I23 to which is attached a manually operable lever I24, the latch plate being urged to normal locking position, as shown in Fig. 2, by a spring I25. Pivoted at I28 on latch plate I22 is a finger I21 which overlies pin I2I and underlies pin I28 carried by plunger 59. Finger I21 also overlies finger I29 which is carried at the lower end of an arm I38 which depends along the upper part of valve body 14 and is carried by the upper end of valve 88, the arrangement being such that when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, valve 88 will be in the position shown in Fig. 7 where port 81 is covered from the air source 88.

Forked over pin I28 is the outer end of a lever I38 pivoted at I 3| and extending through a yoke I32 carried at the lower end of a connecting rod I33, the upper end of which is pivotally connected at I34 with an arm I35 pivoted at I38 and carrying, at its outer end, a skin-clamping ring I31 which overlies ring 28. Lever I38, at an intermediate point I48 (Fig. 2), overlies pin I carried by yoke I32 and this pin is also carried 2,300,312 by an arm I42 also pivoted at I3I- but movable independently of lever I30. Arm I42 is normally urged upwardly by a spring I43. Pivoted at I45 is a latch I46, spring urged counter-clockwise (Fig. 2), by a spring I41 and adapted to engage pin I40. Latch I46 has an upwardly presented shoulder I48 upon which may rest the lower end of an actuator I49 pivoted at I50 on lever I30 and spring urged toward shoulder engaging position by a spring I5I.

The normal at rest positions of the parts are shown in Fig. 2 where ring 20 is at its upper limit and the skin-clamping ring I31 is in the upwardly retracted position indicated in Fig. 1. The operator places a wilted-skin fruit F in ring 20, the polar cap of the skin having been removed. Lever I24 is then swung to the left thereby retracting pin I2I from block I20 and the free end of finger I21 from under pin I28. The air pressure in the lower end of bore 16 from air source 88 thereupon moves valve 86 to its upper position, this movement being permitted by reason of retraction of finger I21 from beneath pin I28. Air then flows through 81, 82, H3, 90, I02, I09, I05, I01, 12 to th upper end of cylinder H and starts the plunger 59 downwardly thereby retracting rollers 53 and 55 from the cutter arms 23 and raker arms 32 and causing a descent of housing 52 and ring 20 against the action of spring 5|. This movement continues until the top of the fruit is below the upper ends of the cutter and raker fingers, at which time collar 58 engages ring 4| to retract said ring from interlocking engagement with the lower ends of the cutter and raker fingers, whereupon springs 39 and 3| serve to swing the upper ends of the raker and cutter arms 32 and 23, respectively, to the positions shown in Fig. 3.

The descent of plunger 59 causes lever I30 to move downwardly to a position where pin I4I will first displace latch I46 counterwise and then permit said latch to overlie pin I'4I thereby retaining the skin-clamping ring I31 in the position shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5.

During the downward movement of plunger 59 valve 89 is in the position shown in Fig. '7 so that air in the lower end of cylinder 1I exhausts through 13, III, 9|, and H0 to atmosphere. At the end of the downward movement of plunger 59 its pin I28 engages head 84 of valve 8| and moves said valve downwardly to cover port I00 and uncover port IOI whereupon air passes through port 95 and bore 93 to act upon the lower end of valve 89 to move said valve upwardly, the air in the upper end of the bore 11 exhausting through .I01, I05, I05, past Valve I08, through I03, I02,

and 92, to atmosphere. At the same time air flows from 88 through 81, 82, I I3, and III, to the lower end of cylinder 13. During the major portion of the upward movement of plunger 59, housing 52 and rollers 53 and 55 trail the plunger by reason of the action of springs BI and the fruit is projected upwardly between the cutters and rakers, said cutters and rakers following the contour of the fruit by reason of the shapes of the cams 54 and 56. The skin is thus scored on meridian lines and the segments peeled downwardly by the raker fingers, as indicated in Fig. 4, the skin being wrinkled over ring 20. Just before ring 20 is brought into close contact with the skin-clamping ring I31, the cam rollers 53 and 55, acting oncams 54 and 58, retract the cutters skin is clamped between rings 20 and- I31 whereupon further upward movement of ring 20 is blocked, the partially skinned fruit being projected up through ring I31. The upward movement of plunger 59 continues to the position shown in Fig. 5 where the lower zone of the skin is projected upwardly to a'nearly flat position so that the operator may readily extract the peeled fruit. At the extreme of the upward movement of plunger 59, its pin I28 engages the upper head 83 of valve 8| thus causing reversal of air flow to cylinder H to start plunger 59 downwardly. At the time plunger 59 reaches its upper position (Fig. 5), the actuator I49 overlies shoulder I48 of latch I46 so that, at the beginning of downward movement of the plunger, ac-

tuator I49 retracts latch I46 from pin I M where-- said finger returning promptly to a position inthe path of downward movement of pin I28 so that when plunger 59 has proceeded downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2, finger I21 is moved downwardly by pin I28 to cause the down- Ward movement of .valve 86 to cover port 81 and latch I20 blocks further downward movement of plunger 59 ready for another actuation. When the cutter and raker arms are thrown to the positions shown in Fig. 2, as previously described, their lower ends 23' and 32', respectively, slip past the spring pressed locking ring 4I so that said lock ng ring serves to catch and retain these fingers in the position shown in Fig. 2 ready for another operation.

I claim as my invention:

1. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a cup comprising a ring, adapted to receive an unpeeled fruit, and a bottom, one axially movable relative to the other, a circumferential series of slitting knives arranged to engage the skin of the upper zone of a fruit in said cup, a circumferent-ial series of rakers arranged to engage the upper zone of skin of a fruit within the cup between said knives, means by which said rakers and knives may be caused to traverse theupper zone of such fruit in contact with said skin and toward said cup, means by which the ring and cup bottom may be relatively moved axially to separate the fruit body from the lower skin zone, and means for holding the fruit skin during said relative movement.

2. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a cup comprising a ring, adapted to receive an unpeeled-fruit, and a bottom, one axially movable relative to the other, a circumferential series of rakers arranged to engage the upper zone of skin of a fruit within the cup, means by which said rakers may be caused to traverse the upper zone of said fruit in contact with said skin and toward said cup, means by which the ring and cup bottom may be relatively moved axially to separate the fruit body from the lower skin zone, and means for holding the fruit skin during said relative movement.

3. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a fruit-supporting ring, a circumferential series of outwardly movable rakers surrounding said ring and adapted to engage the fruit skin, means for causing relative movement between said ring and and rakers radially so that the wrinkled down I the "rakers' in engagement with the fruit skin,

anlejector within said ringadapted-to engage un t and m a r. cau in rs mav fruit -supporting ;ring, a circumierentiaf seriesf outwardly movable makers surrounding 1 said ring and adapted to engage thefruit skin,-a ileum ifei'e'r itialse H ,tingkniyis mtelrdigi tedfwitliQsaidfirakers ana adapted-t s1; tlieiiiiuitaskinjon meridian means or-caus-ingd'elative movement between-said axially bf ,t he :ring while, retaining. skin bontacti -5.,- In-*mechanism for' peeling citrus.,;fruits,. I af ruittsupport ;ing ring. 7 a circumferential series of I outwardly)movablejrakerssurroundingIsaid'ring of, outwardly m'oyable g ;,.-and .said rake'r's andiknives and adapted to engagevthe'f'ruit skin, circum' irential scries-sof'fibutwardly movableF-skin-slitting knive eidigitated-with' said rakers and adapted to slit theiruitskin on meridian lines,

.;-.fir'1earis foryausiiigrelative movement between j'said ring *and said rakers and knives axially of the z-ri'ng :while retaining skin contact, an ejector wi'thi-n said ring adapted to engage the fruit, and means for causing relative movement between the ring and ejector axially of the ring to strip a skin-zone from the fruit body.

6. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a fruit-supporting ring, a circumferential series of outwardly movable skin-slitting knives arranged to engage an exposed skin-zone, means for causing relative movement of the ring and knives axially of the ring to cause skin slitting on meridian lines, means for stripping the slitted portions of the skin axially away from the fruit body and for holding the stripped skin against the ring, an ejector arranged within the ring, and means for causing relative movement between the ring and ejector axially of the ring to strip an unslitted skin zone from the fruit body.

'7. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a fruit-engaging plunger, a fruit-supporting ring carried by said plunger and yieldably supported thereon for relative axial movement, a circumferential series of skin-engaging rakers coaxial with said ring, a skin-clamping ring, and means coordinated with the plunger for causing said between The ,iing ejector axially-0f ui'g-tssn-i -ui skin froma one Itheim t' 1 --:;ierentiai;seriesgot 'skingengaging. 'rakers coaxial .with' saii ring,'f 1meansjfeoordinatedwith the lu g rai lradia clamping-relationwitl the fruitfsupporting ring. 8.; mechanism for peeling citrusi'ruits, a

engagin =--P1 l 8 er a fr uit'supporting ring @carrie gbyfsax thQIQIEI for "relative ax1al muv i li cnt, a t circumu g fliil ablylsuppo t rird on ne=the;s a ers-up ar am nts of the Fring, a skin-clamping .zand means} our nated-;with-"thfpiunzer renaming-said ng jrin'g',,to move intoand out,- .q m-Cl'arn mg" re t mtmth yzrnntmg. mechan or epeeling citrus fruits, a

" iruitgeng agingzplunger; -.fr uit-supp0rtin8 .nns

.11ih fiie fp fl lm fireq e fi lmi thereon' forgigelative-axial'movemnt. a circum- -t feren tia1,;seriesofskin-slitting rakers radially yieldable outwardly and adapted to slit fruit skins on meridian lines through a substantial zone of the fruit, a skin-clamping ring, and means coordinated with the lunger for causing said clamping ring to move into and out of skinclamping relation with the fruit-supporting ring. 10. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a fruit-engaging plunger, a fruit-supporting ring carried by said plunger and yieldably supported thereon for relative axial movement, a circumferential series of skin-engaging rakers coaxial with said ring, a circumferential series of skinslitting knives interdigitated with said rakers and adapted to slit fruit skins on meridian lines through a substantial zone of the fruit, means coordinated with the plunger for radially positioning the rakers and knives upon axial movements of the ring, a skin-clamping ring, and means coordinated with the plunger for causing said clamping ring to move into and out of skinclamping relation with the fruit-supporting ring. 11. In mechanism for peeling citrus fruits, a fruit support, means associated with said support for slitting the fruit skin meridianly to define skin segments, non-cutting raking means associated with said support and adapted to engage and rake the initial ends of the skin segments longitudinally to strip the initial portions of skin segments from the edible body of the fruit toward the support, and means for ejecting the body of the fruit from an unslitted zone of the skin.

RALPH POLK, SR. 

